1986

1986 was the 1986th year of the Common Era.

Events

 * Yoweri Museveni's coup in Uganda brings an end to the Ugandan Civil War, which cost 500,000 lives.
 * Space shuttle Challenger disaster.
 * Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier is overthrown in a popular uprising.
 * Start of Glasnost (Openness) and Perestroika (Reconstruction) in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev.
 * 1986 Berlin Nightclub bombing by Libya kills 3 United States troops and wounds 230. The United States President Ronald Reagan responds with Operation Eldorado Canyon, bombing Libya and killing 45 troops and 30 civilians and destroying 5 IL-76 transports, 14 MiG-23s, 2 helicopters, and 5 radars. Only 2 American pilots are lost.
 * Revolutionary Cells take revenge for the bombing of Libya by kidnapping journalist John McCarthy in Beirut, Lebanon.
 * Abu Nidal Organization kills 22 people and wounds 8 in the Neve Shalom Synagogue of Istanbul, Turkey.
 * Iran-Contra Affair is unveiled in the USA, with the USA selling guns to Iran in exchange for the return of 7 hostages and in exchange for funds for the Contras in Nicaragua.
 * MPLA forces holding captured American soldier Frank Woods on a barge on the Cubango River of Angola are defeated by a small American rescue team, who proceed to kill several MPLA and Cuban soldiers in the process.
 * Battle of Khost in the Soviet-Afghan War results in the death of infamous Colonel Lev Kravchenko and many Soviet troops. Major CIA undercover operation.
 * CIA are inserted into Nicaragua to assassinate cartel boss Raul Menendez but only succeed in destroying his mansion and killing his deformed sister. Menendez is left with a hatred of the Americans.